


To Chase The Mountains

by glaivenoct



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Character Study, Gen, M/M, Wanderlust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:46:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24811792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glaivenoct/pseuds/glaivenoct
Summary: Nyx grows up chasing the mountains and learns to make the most of the world for the times he can't.
Relationships: Noctis Lucis Caelum/Nyx Ulric, Nyx Ulric & Nyx Ulric's Father
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	To Chase The Mountains

Nyx’s father used to call him a mountain chaser. The man would say it with such pride and smugness, fully aware he held responsibility for Nyx taking such an affinity to the beauty of their island.

It starts when Nyx is fairly young, when he sits on his father’s shoulders, walking alongside his mother. They trail along forest paths plush with curtains of green almost daily, down the harmonious, crystal rivers they’ll eventually teach him and Selena to fish in. Little Nyx’s head turns at every sound. The croak of the frogs, the chirp and song of the morning birds and the distant kwehs of wild chocobos. Nyx, knowing no better than to grab fistfuls of his father’s braids in his fascination, tries to imitate every noise. His mother laughs at him and his father says something about going easy on his hair.

As Nyx grows, he goes from sitting on his father’s shoulders, to walking at his side. He latches to the man’s pants when he spots something of interest, points at unfamiliar paths and terrain to ask where they lead to. Nyx’s father shows him every spot he asks about, until it all becomes as familiar to Nyx as his own backyard.

It’s only a matter of time before Nyx asks about the mountains. Limestone peaks rise from the horizon of the forests like the spring daisies. They’re ridden with moss, one or two stroked silver by waterfalls. Nyx beams and gasps at the sight of them, tugging on his father’s pants with all of the excitement one might expect from him walking into a candy shop. 

“Papa, Papa! Will you take me to see the mountains one day?”

His father chuckles, indulging Nyx's curiosity as ever as he pats the boy’s head. “It’s been a long time since I last chased the mountains. I’d love to start chasing them with you, Nyx.”

_ Chasing the mountains  _ becomes their tradition. Others might call it a simple hike, but Nyx grows up seeing it as more than that. It’s an embark on what he deems to be the most secret corners of their island. Adventures filled with phenomenon and wonders his father tells him are unique to their homeland alone. For while Eos holds many marvels and beauty to behold - Galahd is special. Nyx, despite having yet to see more of Eos beyond the borders of his own home, believes it when he climbs to the top of his first waterfall. 

He sits with his knees to his chest, watching the peach sunset over the expanse of trees, between the dip of the adjacent mountains where their village is tucked quietly. He sits listening to his father’s stories of his greatest mountain chases, the heights he’s dived from hand in hand with Nyx’s mother in their youth. He finds the white noise of the cascading waterfall welcoming. A noise he decides he’ll always associate with these moments, as he inches closer to his father’s side and tugs on his sleeve.

“Will you show me all the places you’ve been to, Papa?”

“Every one, you little mountain chaser.” His father smiles and wraps an arm around him.

When Nyx’s father passes, he feels less inclined to chase the mountains. For a while, he feels less inclined to do anything.

He  _ considers  _ venturing out into the forests, but it doesn’t feel  _ right _ . It almost feels like a betrayal. The forest, the mountains… what of themif he can’t share those adventures with the person who familiarized him with them?

“I love many things about you, Nyx,” his mother tells him one night. The small family is squished together on their couch for movie night, their only light being the flicker of the TV and the dim glow of nearby candles. Selena, tucked between the two of them, sleeps soundly even as her mother unweaves her braids. “Do you know what one of my favorites is?”

“What?” Nyx, wrapped in one of his mother’s quilted blankets, asks.

“Your wanderlust. It reminds me of your father.” She smiles and Nyx doesn’t know what to do other than stare at his lap. “I hope you never lose that.”

Nyx thinks about those words long and hard for days. He thinks of how he misses the mountains and forests, how he misses the feeling that he’s about to discover another breathtaking sight. Without his father, things might not be the same… but it’s still  _ theirs _ .

Grief doesn’t deserve to take that from him. 

It’s weeks before he decides to venture out. He does it on his own and, at first, it’s odd. He thinks he’s made a mistake, but the farther he walks, the more familiar places he stumbles upon for the first time in what feels like ages - he thinks he feels someone watching him. He glances over his shoulder once, twice, three times. Nothing’s there. 

He can’t make sense of it until he brings Selena with him one day. 

“You and Papa came out here a lot. Even before I was born, huh?” She asks, clinging to his side and turning her head at the sights and wild noises he recalls doing himself. “That’s nice. Maybe this is how we stay close to him.”

Her words halt Nyx. Perhaps this whole time Nyx hasn’t been without his father. Perhaps this whole time, his father has been watching him - only somewhere Nyx can’t quite see. Still smiling at him. Still eager to see him wonder, wander, and pursue the mountains.

“Nyx?” Selena loops her arm around his and stares at him with worry. “Are you okay?”

Nyx tightens the link with his sister’s arm and smiles at her. “Want me to show you the places he took me? The ones you haven’t seen?”

Selena sucks in an excited breath as she grins, her eyes widening at the notion. Nyx nudges her and runs down the dirt path before them. He thinks of taking her down to that patch of wildflowers past the streams, that hidden cove behind the island’s grandest waterfall,  _ the mountains _ . As Selena easily matches his pace, Nyx thinks of every place he could possibly take her. The new places they could still discover together, like the ones his father never got to show either of them. 

There’s comfort in being for his sister what their father was for the both of them: the enabler of wanderlust. It brings them closer and, eventually, helps Nyx find closure. That’s when Libertus and Crowe start to join them. When they start racing through Galahd Canyon, climbing trees, diving and canon balling from the edges of waterfalls. 

Even as Nyx settles into his teens and prepares for the road into young adulthood, he always makes time to chase the mountains.

To say Nyx’s move to Insomnia puts him out of sorts is an understatement. 

He’s lost for reasons greater than the lack of familiarity. He spends his first few months in the city drawing comparisons to his mother over the phone. It’s a challenge for Nyx to truly see the neon lights of the city’s billboards and flashing screens at night; the overhead of street lamps and the perpetual crystalline gloss of King’s mighty wall casting over the buildings. All Nyx sees is a congested monochrome refuge, the farthest thing removed from the rich openness of his islands. 

Nyx dreams of the skyscrapers outside his window being replaced by mountains. Of pavement morphing into soil and mud puddles. Of running through shrub and pushing past vines with his little sister and friends, their parents watching fondly from afar.

The closest he can get to reliving it is the next morning, when he’s sprinting through drills on the dirt grounds of the kingsglaive’s training yard. Only he does not laugh or enjoy himself. He trips and falls in front of his Captain when he warps for the first time, and the man scowls at him. 

In a year’s time, Nyx accepts that he’ll bear the weight of homesickness for an unforeseeable amount of time. On the anniversary of his relocation to the city and joining the kingsglaive, he joins his friends and comrades for food and drinks at Yamachang’s, and Pelna says something that stands out to him. 

“If this is for hearth and home, the least we can do is make the most out of this city while we’re here.”

Nyx learns to do that not just for the sake of his own spirits, but for his mother and the memories of his father and sister. The city never matches up to the things he loves about Galahd, but it has its own wonders to discover and places to wander. 

_ You just have to be willing to find them, _ he hears his father saying into his ear some days.

He finds them when he decides to put more effort into familiarizing himself with his own district. In the corners and pockets he discovers are dedicated to preserving his culture. In festivals the glaives spread the word of and extend invitations to. They help Nyx see the neon glow of the city at night, highlighted by the radiance of celebratory paper lanterns and bonfires; brought to life by vibrations of songs in his mother tongue, warmed by the drifting aroma of spices he can name by heart. 

He makes a habit of taking different routes home from the citadel, finding barren alleyways for shortcuts on the days he wants nothing more than to lay his head down. He takes his time navigating across bridges, through shopping plazas and meticulously groomed parks for the days he wants a bit more of the scenic route. 

As the years pass, Nyx better adapts to the city. Time continues the mend of his past wounds, and Nyx thinks that maybe Insomnia isn’t all that bad.

Maybe his father is proud of him for making the most of it. Whether it be the city, the familiar soil of home, or the diverse regions of Eos his position as kingsglaive takes him across, Nyx holds on to the desire to wander.

At the age of 31, Nyx reflects on the places he’s been. The adventures he’s shared on his own, and with the ones he loves most. He realizes there’s  _ one thing  _ he hasn’t done in a very long time.

“Your birthday’s coming up.” Nyx hears the drowsy drag in Noctis’ voice as he squeezes against him on his armchair. He welcomes the kiss against his temple, quick to wrap an arm around his prince’s waist and pull him as close as possible. “Is there anything you want to do?”

_ One thing  _ Nyx hasn’t done in a long time. One person he would love to experience an unbridled wanderlust with.

Nys smiles. “You ever chased a mountain before?”


End file.
